The Conservative Political Action Conference's annual straw poll typically indicates three things: Whom CPAC's segment of the conservative base prefers for president; who bought tickets for their supporters; and whether Ron Paul is really trying.

The evidence so far this year is that Paul -- who won big in 2010, and whose energetic core of supporters have proven a lot better at winning him beauty contests than primaries -- is in it to win it.

"It will tell the country a whole lot about the enthusiasm the young people have for liberty," Paul said in a video exhorting his supporters to flood the conference.

Paul's Campaign for Liberty, the a 501(c)4 organization he founded after ending his '08 campaign, has in fact put together an extensive, and expensive, campaign for the conference. A source close to the conference said the Paul group bought 1,000 tickets to the conference, and a Paul aide told another Republican that they'd recruited at least 700 supporters to vote for him. Another Paul aide wrote to supporters back in November:

We have just begun selling tickets to Campaign for Liberty's events at CPAC and hope you will not delay in taking part. The Conference will take place in Washington, DC from February 10-12.

We are able to offer special deals on tickets and discounted hotel rooms to all Campaign for Liberty members. However, we anticipate an even greater response to our plans for CPAC this year and do not expect tickets or hotel rooms to last for very long. We WILL sell out! So, I hope you will take advantage of this special offer now before it is too late.

Last week, John Tate, Paulís '08 political director and the president of the Campaign for Liberty emailed the groupís listserv on January 22, 2011 to push recruitment:

CPAC 2011 is only a few weeks, and we are falling short of our recruitment goal. Last year, our movement shocked the establishment when Ron Paul won the Presidential Straw Poll with the largest vote total in its history. This year, they are aware of our presence, and they are planning to bus in hundreds of their blind followers to counter our grassroots energy. If you and I do not redouble our efforts in these last few weeks, I am afraid we will be outnumbered.

One group of libertarians who aren't on board with this: Supporters of former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, a Paul ally who hopes to inherit his support. Republican Liberty Caucus Chairman Dave Nalle drew denunciations from Paul supporters for a Facebook comment saying, "Ron is not going to run for president. Period. I have sources. That being the case why aren't all the C4L people getting onboard with Gary Johnson?"

That suggestion drew a strong rebuke from Paul aide Jesse Benton:

r. Paul is strongly considering a run, and we are taking steps to assess his overall viability. Public and private polling shows Dr. Paul holding fourth place in the national race, a virtual first tier candidate, with strong positives and near universal name ID. Mr. Nalle is certainly welcome to back whomever he pleases, but we should insist he tell the truth.

Paul isn't the only 2012 hopeful organizing around CPAC; indeed, the chairman of Students for Romney, Garrett Sweitzer, emailed this morning promising a "'visible' presence at CPAC."

But Paul's commitment to, and experience at, winning these events is hard to beat, so I suspect the race will be for second place.

ItsTime

02-09-2011, 03:29 PM

So Politico thinks we are going to win this thing? Im not sure what the term "race will be for second place" means.

BrooklynZoo

02-09-2011, 04:13 PM

So Politico thinks we are going to win this thing? Im not sure what the term "race will be for second place" means.

Politico is spinning a RP win at CPAC '11 as disproportionate to how the actual GOP would vote because of the effort Paul and C4L have put into getting activists to the conference. It's a "Sure, he'll probably win but it doesn't really mean much because he will NOT be the GOP nominee."

UtahApocalypse

02-09-2011, 04:24 PM

Funny how when we show support these events suddenly don't mean squat

sailingaway

02-09-2011, 04:29 PM

Funny how when we show support these events suddenly don't mean squat

JournoList clearly is just discrediting an expected win in advance. I hope he DOES win. While Politico ignores it, others are mobilizing as well. And there are some angling for part of Ron's base which didn't happen before.

BrooklynZoo

02-09-2011, 05:05 PM

Funny how when we show support these events suddenly don't mean squat

Don't you know we're just a few spammers on the internet? haha

justinc.1089

02-09-2011, 06:38 PM

Don't you know we're just a few spammers on the internet? haha

Correction:

A few spammers on the internet, in our basements.

Mentioning that we're in our basements is very important since that detail was included every single time that was revealed about us. ;):rolleyes::p

speciallyblend

02-09-2011, 06:51 PM

Correction:

A few spammers on the internet, in our basements.

Mentioning that we're in our basements is very important since that detail was included every single time that was revealed about us. ;):rolleyes::p

this so called 43 yr old spammer with 2 step-kids who can vote and a wife who supports ron paul is flying out from colorado to vote for Ron paul and politico can kiss my lilly white republican delegate butt !! I want Ron Paul; to Win but something tells me the gop establishment crooks will not let it happen! the best thing we can do is keep exposing the gop for what it is and hold the gop accountable with our votes until they shape up or we ship them the f out!!

I would like gary johnson to be second if we can have a second vote!!! then what will they say a race for 3rd??, f politico and the gop establishment!! f'in with ron or rand paul is a sure way to get republicans to hand the gop their own asses!! It happened in 2008!!